Not the iTax! Mac alternative?

lee3821

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Feb 18, 2010
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I have a friend who is going off to college and is technologically inept. She is looking for a laptop, and wants a 15" MacBook Pro. I am looking into an alternative to suggest to her. Here are her priorities as I understand them.
-Budget=$800-1300ish
-Nice styling, light but strong feel...metal casing is preferable to plastic. You know how a mac is... It needs to look good.
-Reliable, and shouldn't have any real problems to deal with once I've reinstalled Windows without the OEM crapware. It should hopefully be as trouble-free and idiot-proof as possible.
-15" screen is a plus
-Doesn't need much in the way of hardware. She just browses the web, emails, etc... But I'd like it to feel zippy, so I'd assume an i3 or better would suffice. The more battery life, the better, but it's not a huge priority as long as it's realistically 4h or more. Prolly 4gb of memory. One thing I was considering was suggesting that she reinvest some cost-savings in a SSD. Any suggestions?
-She would be needing to use this for the next four years, so a reputation for long-term reliability would be nice.

Also, if you have any idea how to stop it from cluttering up with crapware, etc... over time, that would be nice. Everyone knows that you can make any machine feel like a POS if you run too much on it.

Thanks for your suggestions/advice.
 
Solution
Usually, a smaller laptop is preferred if it's going to get carried around the campus. Or is it going to be chained up in the dorm room?

Dell XPS 15z review at almost 6lbs (like the Macbook Pro) it's not a thin & light option.
Usually, a smaller laptop is preferred if it's going to get carried around the campus. Or is it going to be chained up in the dorm room?

Dell XPS 15z review at almost 6lbs (like the Macbook Pro) it's not a thin & light option.
 
Solution
Usually, the business class have the better reputation for durability and longevity - such as Dell Latitude and Lenovo Thinkpad.
But they usually lose out in the style category - my suggestion is getting a stylish bag or computer sleeve.

Dell Latitude E6420 14"
4.6lbs, still not exactly thin and light but smaller and lighter than the 15" models.
Under $800 with Core i5 Sandy Bridge CPU

 

lee3821

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Feb 18, 2010
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Well, she couldn't be dissuaded from getting a mac, so I picked one out for her. I did appreciate your advice on a 13". I showed her my 14" laptop, and she thought that a bit smaller would be just fine, so that helped.
Thanks for helping me try, everyone.